HONG KONG, Sept. 16 (Xinhua) -- Typhoon Mangkhut slammed China's Hong Kong on Sunday with strong winds and heavy rain after it had ravaged the northern Philippines.
At least 213 people were injured in typhoon in Hong Kong as of 5 p.m. local time on Sunday, according to the Hospital Authority.
The Home Affairs Department has so far opened 48 temporary shelters in various districts and 1,219 people have sought refuge at the shelters.
During the whole day, few people or cars were on the road, but police vehicles, fire engines and ambulances could been seen and heard more frequently than in normal days.
The government's call center has received 179 reports of fallen trees as of 5 p.m. local time. Some fallen trees were blocking the road.
Near the Happy Valley in Hong Kong Island, a tree, about 10 meters high, fell down, dragging tram wires down to the ground.
Glasses could be seen in many places as strong winds have been rattling windows of high skyscrapers.
Giant waves have been lashing coastlines, with many low-lying places drowned. The Drainage Services Department has received 26 confirmed flooding cases.
Though most people huddled indoors, some still chose to go outside. A man, who gives his family name as Cheung, said he walked for about half an hour from his home to the Victoria Harbor and just wanted to experience the power of Mangkhut and take some photos of the fierce waves.
Several tourists from the United States also went to the harbor. One tourist, who gave his name as Moy, said they saw a lot of debris, including broken glasses, when walking to the seaside, and because most restaurants were closed, they were worrying about where to have supper.
Public transportation has almost been paralyzed. A limited service is being maintained on the underground sections of the railway. Tram and ferry services were suspended. On air traffic, the Airport Authority Hong Kong reported that a total of 889 flights have been canceled on Sunday.
No report of landslides has been received, according to the Civil Engineering and Development Department and Lands Department.
The Education Bureau on Sunday evening announced class suspension of all schools on Monday regardless of whether any tropical cyclone signal and rainstorm warning signal will still be in force or not, as it takes time to clean and repair community facilities and it's necessary to ensure the safety of students.
At 8 p.m. local time, severe typhoon Mangkhut was centered about 240 km west of Hong Kong and is forecast to move west-northwest at about 30 km per hour into western Guangdong Province on the Chinese mainland.
Hurricane Signal No. 10, the top level warning, was issued by the Hong Kong Observatory at 9:40 a.m. local time on Sunday, and remained in force for 10 hours. It was replaced by the third serious warning Southeast Gale Signal 8 at 7:40 p.m. local time.
Although typhoon Mangkhut is moving away from Hong Kong, gales and violent squalls are still occurring and precautions should not yet be relaxed, the Observatory warned.
